Page 84 of Rescuing Nathaniel

As soon as they stepped inside he knew.

Ava was there.

The blue robe she’d been wearing yesterday morning was folded and sitting on a countertop on the opposite side of the room.

Relief hit him hard. She was there.

Close.

All he had to do was find her.

Then the most horrific, blood-curdling scream of pure terror filled the building.

Nathaniel was moving before he could even think. Shoving past Rex, Phantom, and Rocco, his injury forgotten, driven forward by a single purpose.

Find Ava.

Get to Ava.

Save Ava.

Protect Ava.

It was like all conscious thought had fled his mind and he was unable to think of anything other than his one goal. Training meant nothing to him, and he was out the door and running toward where the scream had come from before Rocco or the others could do anything to stop him.

Throwing open the door to the room beside the one where Ava had been at some point just as another scream pierced the air, he froze as his worst nightmare became a reality.

She was there, bound to a bed, naked, with blood coating her stomach and dribbling down her sides. Around the bed were half a dozen men and women dressed in scrubs, one of whom held a scalpel in his hand.

The blade dripped with Ava’s blood and Nathaniel saw red.

They were hurting his girl, killing her, and she was awake for every second of it. These monsters hadn't sedated her, they were going to make her feel every slice, every cut, make her watch as her organs were pulled from her body one by one.

Whatever hold he had on his rage snapped.

Throwing his weapon to the ground he launched himself at the doctor holding the scalpel, a bullet to the brain was too quick a death, he had to suffer, had to pay for what he’d done to Ava, what he’d been going to do.

Red rage consumed him, and he let it.

CHAPTER22

March 9th

5:13 A.M.

The soundthat came from Nathaniel as he lunged for the surgeon was nothing Ava had ever heard come from a person before.

In fact, it was more animal than human.

But the rage in his eyes was focused and precise.

He knew what he was doing and from the looks of things, his goal was to tear apart these men and women limb from limb.

Part of her wanted to let him do it, to make no move to stop it, but part of her wasn't sure that Nathaniel wouldn't regret his decision when he came down from the fury that had consumed him.

Then again, he didn't look like he was going to have regrets.

More men filled the room.

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